Aeroelastic analysis and nonlinear dynamics of an elastically mounted wing

The response of an elastically mounted wing that is free to plunge and pitch, supported by nonlinear translational and torsional springs, and interacting with an incoming stream is analyzed. A tightly coupled model of the wing flow interaction is developed. A three-dimensional code based on the unsteady vortex lattice method is used for the prediction of the unsteady aerodynamic loads. The response of the wing shows a sequence of static and dynamic bifurcations and chaotic motions when increasing the flow speed. Pairs of stable solutions are observed over the different response regimes. The effects of the gust and structural nonlinearity on the wing's response are also investigated. The results show that gust may lead to jumps between the pairs of solutions for static and dynamic equilibrium responses without impacting the boundaries of the different response regimes. As for the effect of the structural nonlinearity, increasing the nonlinear coefficient of the stiffness of the torsional spring yields lower static deflections and amplitudes of the limit cycle oscillations.